Thursday, September 29, 2005

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Dalai Lama Urges Peace Through 'Science of Emotions'By Jeff Diamant And Maura McDermottReligion News ServicePiscataway, N.J., Sept. 25 -- Sharing the simple spiritual lessons that have become his calling card, the Dalai Lama drew the largest crowd for a non-athletic event in Rutgers University history Sunday for a wide-ranging speech on what he called the "science of emotions."

From a massive stage behind the goal line near the Rutgers Stadium scoreboard, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism spoke of inner peace and world peace, and of the connection between them.

With occasional help from a translator sitting next to him, the man believed to be the 14th incarnation of the Buddha of Compassion joked with an appreciative crowd and answered questions on morality submitted earlier via e-mail.

The audience that began arriving hours before the speech reflected the popularity of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner among Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews.

Little in his speech was specific to Buddhism, and he urged listeners to think of his message not as religious "but rather (as) a science of emotions, the science of mind."

The chief themes in his talk, titled "Peace, War and Reconciliation," were the importance of being compassionate and of controlling negative emotions, and how doing so helps improve the world.

Compassion, he said, drives peace, and true compassion "is not just a mere feeling of pitiness (pity)" but a sense of concern for others that stems from feelings of equality with them.

That, he said, contributes to an "inner disarmament" that can help people get along and eventually lead to world peace.

Negative emotions like anger and hatred, he said, can cloud people's vision and better judgment.

The Dalai Lama, known as "His Holiness" to followers, made his points with stories of two Tibetan Buddhist monks.

The first monk, he said, had spent nearly 20 years in a Chinese prison, and when he was released to speak with the Dalai Lama in the 1980s, he told the Dalai Lama he had been in danger on a "few occasions."

The Dalai Lama asked the monk to elaborate, and he responded that he had been in danger of losing compassion for the Chinese: "He considered forgetting compassion as very serious and dangerous," the Dalai Lama said.

The second monk, on the other hand, was so angry at Chinese rulers for their actions in Tibet that "his face became red" when talking about them. "This kind of hatred brings more suffering to yourself," the Dalai Lama said he told him.

It was a message that held special significance for people in the crowd such as Lara Brewche of Monroe Township, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident at age 16.

"I knew enough to let the anger go, and I made a wonderful life for myself," said Brewche, 34, who grew up Catholic and embraced Buddhism a year ago.

Urging Americans to help narrow the worldwide gap between rich and poor, the Dalai Lama asked his young listeners to grow into adults willing to help people outside American borders.

He also made the crowd laugh repeatedly, like when he demonstrated his awareness of artificial turf on sports fields. Motioning toward the field before him, he discussed the sanctity of all living things, "including those trees and this grass -- I think this grass true grass, not artificial. I don't know."

The grass is actually an artificial variety called "Field Turf."

Earlier, he left the audience giggling with his introduction, given minutes after he received an honorary degree from Rutgers President Richard McCormick.

"I have nothing to offer (as) new ideas, or new views. Nothing special. So you may disappoint after listen my ... lecture. If you feel boring, then I'm sorry. But at least today this weather not hot, not cold. Quite pleasant. So just a few minutes you spend here OK. Not much problem."

Many in the far corners of the stadium had trouble hearing him on the sound system. But overall the Dalai Lama, author of "The Art of Happiness," a 1998 best-seller, was a hit.

"He was not pretentious, he was not a know-it-all person," said Rajul Shah, 58, of Basking Ridge. "You felt you were talking to a friend and listening to a friend, having a conversation with a friend. What he preached here wasn't religion, it was very spiritual. ... It just brings peace and satisfaction to yourself and others."

A married couple, Maya Sondhi, 33, and Binu Wariyar, 37, of Stamford, Conn., met for the first time at a Dalai Lama speech two years ago in Central Park and came Sunday on their one-year anniversary with their parents.

"It's a full circle. A year ago we got married, the families were together. The Dalai Lama brought us together," said Sondhi, whose in-laws flew in from Nebraska.

Her father-in-law, Bala Wariyar, 67, said he has considered himself a fan of the Dalai Lama since Wariyar was a college student in India in the 1950s. The Dalai Lama has been exiled from Tibet since 1959, when he fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese Communist leadership, which conquered Tibet in 1951.

"He's a David against a Goliath," Wariyar said.

If it wasn't the largest crowd in Rutgers Stadium history -- that honor goes to the crowd of 42,612 for the Sept. 4, 2004, Rutgers-Michigan State game -- it may have been the least rowdy.

Most of the 36,000 people were quiet and still throughout the 90-minute talk. Now and then someone would hold up a cell phone to snap a photo of the Dalai Lama's image on the large screen, or laugh at a joke the spiritual leader made or applaud when he spoke against violence. And hundreds left during the last few minutes of the question-and-answer period. But for the most part, even babies in the crowd seemed quiet.

After his Piscataway speech the Dalai Lama traveled to Manhattan for another speech. The monk has also spoken in Arizona, Idaho and Texas this month.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

It has rained for 2 days....Lord know we need it.....feels so different. We realized this afternoon that the car had not been washed since July.....because it hasn't rained since then.....and then look at NOLA.....

Dalai Lama urges 'respect, compassion, and full human rights for all,' including gays

by Dennis ConkinBay Area Reporter, June 19th, 1997

The Dalai Lama, world-revered leader of millions of Buddhists and leader of the Tibetan people, spoke out strongly against discrimination and violence against lesbians and gays during an extraordinary Wednesday, June 11 meeting in San Francisco with lesbian and gay Buddhists, clergy, and human rights activists.

The religious leader said at the press conference that he had previously been asked his views on gay marriage, and said that such social sanction of gay relationships "has to be judged in the context of the society itself and the laws and social norms."

During the 45-minute meeting, the Nobel peace laureate and Buddhist religious leader voiced his support for the full recognition of human rights for all people, regardless of sexual orientation.

Buddhist sexual proscriptions ban homosexual sexual activity and heterosexual sex through orifices other than the vagina, including masturbation or other sexual activity with the hand. Buddhist proscriptions also forbid sex at certain times - such as during full and half moon days, the daytime, and during a wife's menstrual period or pregnancy - or near shrines or temples. Adultery is considered sexual misconduct, but the hiring of a female prostitute for penile-vaginal sex is not, unless one pays a third party to procure the person.

From a "Buddhist point of view," lesbian and gay sex "is generally considered sexual misconduct," the Dalai Lama told reporters at a press conference a day earlier.

However, such proscriptions are for members of the Buddhist faith - and from "society's viewpoint," homosexual sexual relations can be "of mutual benefit, enjoyable, and harmless," according to the Dalai Lama.

"His Holiness was greatly concerned by reports made available to him regarding violence and discrimination against gay and lesbian people. His Holiness opposes violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation. He urges respect, tolerance, compassion, and the full recognition of human rights for all," said Office of Tibet spokesman Dawa Tsering in a statement issued within an hour of the meeting.

Photographs of the historic event were taken, but were available only on the condition that participants' quotes be reviewed prior to publication.

That condition violates journalistic canons regarding the freedom of the press. The Bay Area Reporter declined any conditions for the release of the photographs and has lodged a protest with the National Gay and Lesbian Journalism Association over their embargo.

Concern about violenceThe extraordinary meeting was held at the Buddhist leader's suite at the Fairmont Hotel, on the last day of "Peacemaking: The Power of Non-Violence," a three-day conference held at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

Sponsored by The California Institute of Asian Studies and Tibet House, the conference featured plenary sessions, workshops, and discussions with a wide array of international, national, and local human rights and violence prevention and intervention leaders, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, actor Edward James Olmos, East Timor human rights leader and Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, and others, including a representative of Nobel peace laureate and Guatemalan peace activist Rigoberta Menchu.

The meeting with lesbians and gays followed a January 1996 report by the Bay Area Reporter that detailed an open letter by Buddhist AIDS Project coordinator Steve Peskind, asking the world-revered spiritual leader of millions of Buddhists to publicly clarify his published contradictory statements on homosexuality.

Peskind said that he was motivated by concern about the violence and harm caused to lesbian and gays around the world through pronouncements against homosexual sexual activity by Buddhist religious leaders such as the Dalai Lama.

Many gay and lesbian Buddhists have reported virulenty anti-gay sentiments and teachings from religious teachers in Tibetan and other Buddhist practice lines.

A former Tibetan Buddhist monk, Peskind is a well-known figure in Buddhist and AIDS circles and is a co-founder of the San Francisco-based Shanti Project and Coming Home Hospice.

When asked last January by the Bay Area Reporter if the Dalai Lama might meet with Peskind or other lesbian and gay Buddhists leaders during the June conference, a California Institute For Integral Studies special events organizer initially indicated that such a tete-a-tete would be unlikely.

Gay and lesbian political and anti-violence leaders including Supervisor Tom Ammiano and Lester Olmstead-Rose quickly joined with Peskind, asking for the clarification of the religious leader's statements proclaiming homosexual sex as sexual misconduct.

Warm and relaxedThe possibility of organized gay and lesbian protest, including a high-profile public information ad campaign conducted in the national media such as the New York Times - and conference site picketing - was defused after the flap was discussed during a cabinet session of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, and a meeting with Peskind and others was scheduled by the Office of Tibet.

Peskind and Buddhist AIDS Project co-leader Jim Purfield were also hastily invited by Tibet House conference organizers to present a workshop on homophobia and violence with representatives of Community United Against Violence. The workshop drew an estimated 50 participants, many of them lesbian and gay. Several AIDS prevention and social service professionals who work with lesbian and gay youth also attended that workshop.

The private meeting between representatives of the lesbian and gay community and the Dalai Lama was described as "warm and relaxed."

The Dalai Lama also expressed interest in the insights of modern scientific research on homosexuality and its value in developing new understanding of Buddhist texts that nix homosexual activity, participants said.

Reiterating in the private meeting that he did not have the authority to unilaterally reinterpret Buddhist scriptures, the Dalai Lama also urged those present to build a consensus among other Buddhist traditions and communities to collectively change the understanding of the Buddhist scriptural references on sexuality for contemporary society, according to a joint statement issued by participants.

During the meeting, the Dalai Lama also candidly acknowledged that he did not know the foundations of scriptural proscriptions against sexual activity or where they originated, Peskind said.

Participants also said the Dalai Lama expressed the "willingness to consider the possibility that some of the teachings may be specific to a particular cultural and historic context."

Dogmatic responseAccording to longtime Buddhist observer and writer Scott Hunt, whose 1993 interview with the leader was published in the January/February 1994 Out magazine, the response of the Dalai Lama to the controversy over the teachings is significant.

Hunt said the religious leader could have put forth the underlying "moral underpinnings" of the strictures - and clearly stated the basis and positive effects of such teachings.

Instead, Hunt said, by propounding the teachings without such discussion, the Dalai Lama seems to be "engaging in dogmatic repetition" and is apparently unable to substantiate their beneficial character, and because of his response, the validity of the teachings have been cast "into serious doubt." Vigorous debate about such issues and exception to the views of religious leaders such as the Dalai Lama are neither heresy or disrespectful in Buddhist traditions.

"In fact, it's the practitioner's duty to examine dogmatic views and to determine their validity," Hunt said. During the private session, the religious teacher told the activists they would have a harder time changing Buddhist scripture and tradition than advocating for their human rights based on Buddhist principles, according to Peskind.

Organized for the Office of Tibet by attorney Eva Herzer, president of the International Committee of Lawyers For Tibet, the historic meeting included Herzer, Peskind, Buddhist Peace Fellowship activist and Claremont Graduate School Professor of Education Lourdes Arguelles, and Jose Ignacio Cabezon, a gay Buddhist scholar and professor at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.

Other participants included the Ven. K.T. Shedrup Gyatso, a fully ordained and openly gay Buddhist monk and teacher who is the spiritual director of the San Jose Tibetan Temple; International Gay And Lesbian Human Rights Commission co-chair Tinku Ali Ishtiaq; and former Congregation Sha'ar Zahav Rabbi Yoel Khan.

"There is still room for movement," Ishtiaq told the Bay Area Reporter. But the human rights activist said the Dalai Lama's support for lesbian and gay rights is "very significant."

Ishtiaq said that the Nobel laureate commands tremendous respect around the world and hoped the leader's historic statement would have "considerable impact on non-Buddhist religious traditions."

A conference on Buddhism, sex, gender, and diversity issues is being planned, following the historic meeting with the world religious leader.

Wednesday, September 7, 2005

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

THE YEAR 1905Maybe this will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1905 one hundred years ago. What a difference a cen! tury makes! Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1905:

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.

Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound, eggs were fourteen cents a dozen, coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:1. Pneumonia and influenza2. Tuberculosis3. Diarrhea4. Heart disease5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet. The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharma! cist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to th e mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S had at least one full-time servant or domestic.